It's not really a FMA thread and for that I apologise but please take a minute out of your day today to remember those victims and survivors of last year?s terrorist atrocity here in the UK. Over 50 died and more than 100 injured when terrorists detonated suicide packs on the underground and a public bus.

I was travelling to work in London on that morning, I remember seeing people queuing for buses on the street and couldn't work out why until I reached work and turned on the news channel.

Up to 8,000 suspected al-Qa'ida sympathisers are being investigated by MI5 and the police in an operation to identify future terrorists, The Independent has learned.

The huge covert inquiry, known as project Rich Picture, is aimed at finding people who are being groomed for terrorism, and at identifying the Islamist extremists carrying out the recruitment.

The nationwide investigation follows intelligence suggesting there is a very small, but significant number of British-born and Britain-based Muslims, who are prepared to carry out bombings and other terrorist attacks in this country.

Undercover officers are gathering information from all over the country, including at colleges, mosques and internet websites where extremists may try to "groom" or radicalise those sympathetic to the aims of al-Qa'ida. Of the estimated 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain, counter-terrorist sources have disclosed that they believe up to 0.5 per cent - about 8,000 - support al-Qa'ida's aims, and have links to Islamist extremists. These are the people being investigated.

Despite assurances by police and intelligence chiefs that they are not spying on the Muslim community, the huge scale of project Rich Picture is certain to provoke anger among some Muslims who believe they are being unfairly stigmatised and targeted. Relations with some sections of the Muslim community have already been damaged following the shooting of a suspect in Forest Gate, east London, who was later released with his brother without charge.

Project Rich Picture was set up shortly after the suicide bombings in London in July last year after it became clear that British-born citizens were becoming radicalised.

Following the London attacks, in which 56 people died Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, director general of MI5, told the Intelligence and Security Committee that the main lesson learned from the attacks was the need to get into "the unknown" - to "find ways of broadening coverage to pick up currently unknown terrorist activities or plots".

The committee, which oversees the running of the intelligence services, said of the police and agencies: "Their goal is to become more proactive at identifying those who may be being groomed for terrorism and those doing the grooming, and so to spot where terrorism may next occur."

The resulting operation is aimed at up to 8,000 potential terror supporters.

A security source said: "What we have been doing up to now is fire-fighting. There has been a huge volume of plots to investigate.

"Rather than just firefighting we are finding out the causes, why it's happening, why are people radicalised, and how they are radicalised, and then deal with some of these issues."

Until recently, the intelligence services have been concentrating on uncovering and disrupting active terrorist plots in the UK. By July 2005, the number of "primary investigative targets'' known to security services had risen from about 250 in 2001 to 800.

But a big expansion of MI5 and police counter-terrorism resources has allowed the agencies to start looking at the recruitment and grooming of future bombers. MI5 has grown from just under 2,000 staff in 2001 to about 2,500 today, rising to 3,500 in 2008.

A security source said: "It is trying to drill down and identify those who may be coming into contact with radical sources. It is finding out these people at an early stage. You only have to look at the background of the 7 July London terrorists to see the speed to which radicalisation can take place.

"Some of those who blew themselves up were spotted, recruited and radicalised within a year."

The security service and police chiefs believe that Islamist extremists are targeting people in Britain who are sympathetic towards the aims of al-Qa'ida and who believe the London suicide bombings were justified. They point to surveys in the past year, by Populus, YouGov, and ICM, which found between five and seven per cent of British Muslims believe the London bombings were justified.

Much of the work of Project Rich Picture is being done by MI5 officers based at new regional stations with the help of GCHQ, the government's eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham. Four centres: Scotland, the north-west, north-east and midlands are up and running. A further four, in the south-west, Wales, the east and the south-east will be operational by year's end. A security source said: "The whole Rich Picture business is an investigation to get information on the ground which we would not have looked at before. It is not an attempt by agencies to spy on the Muslim population. It's looking at those people directly attached or linked to terrorist activities."

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Joking Muslim cleric mocks victims of London blasts

A SPEECH by an extremist Muslim cleric praising the London bombers and mocking victims of suicide attacks has been broadcast on the internet to coincide with the anniversary of the July 7 attacks.

The audience laughs as Omar Brooks, a British Muslim convert who also uses the name Abu Izzadeen, makes fun of non-Muslims as ?animals? and ?cowards?.

Brooks ? who has previously described the London bombers as ?completely praiseworthy? ? identifies with the views of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the ringleader of the London attacks.

He contrasts the supposed bravery of Khan?s suicide to the ?kuffar? (non-Muslims) who are characterised as debauched binge-drinkers who vomit and urinate in the street.

The speech is peppered with jokes that bring laughter from his audience at the Small Heath youth and community centre in Birmingham, where it was filmed last Sunday.

At one point he announces dramatically that the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center ?changed many people?s lives?. After a pause, he brings the house down by adding: ?Especially those inside.?

His comments were condemned by Rachel North, a survivor of the King?s Cross bomb. ?It?s clearly calculated to upset people and is pretty disgusting. I would imagine these statements are something that the police would be interested in because they might encourage other people to get involved in terrorism.?

She disclosed that she had received abuse from supporters of the terrorists. ?I?ve had abusive e-mails from people saying that I am part of a government conspiracy, that it?s a shame I didn?t die in the bombings. It?s pretty low, but I have chosen not to publish these e-mails because I don?t want to give them publicity.?

Brooks, 31, a former electrician who was born into a Christian family of Jamaican origin in east London, is already under police investigation.

Police submitted a file on his activities to the Crown Prosecution Service last month after an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times last July tape-recorded him imploring Muslims to ?instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar?.

On that occasion he told an audience of teenagers and young families that he did not want to go to Allah while sleeping in his bed ?like an old woman?. Instead, he said: ?I want to be blown into pieces with my hands in one place and my feet in another.?

He has continued to speak out publicly despite the government?s attempt to crack down on the ?preachers of hate?.

His latest speech was at an event entitled ?How can we prevent another 7/7?? and organised by a little known umbrella group called the Islamic Research Forum. It includes members of Al-Ghurabaa and the Saviour Sect, both formed from the break-up of Al-Muhajiroun, the Islamic organisation that described the September 11 terrorists as the ?Magnificent 19?.

Last August Tony Blair announced that he would ban ?the successor organisation of Al-Muhajiroun?, but this is one of a number of anti-terror proposals that have proved difficult to implement.

Omar Bakri, former leader of Al-Muhajiroun, fled Britain last year amid fears of a crackdown on radical preachers. He is said to have been replaced as the leader of the Saviour Sect by Brooks.

The video of last Sunday?s speech was posted on the Al-Ghurabaa website ahead of Friday?s memorial service for the 52 people who were killed by the four suicide bombers.

Brooks is dismissive of calls for reconciliation. ?I know as Friday approaches there will be many epitaphs and speeches and sermons, and maybe the archbishop of somewhere or other is going to come out and say, you know, we?ll call for peace around the world blah, blah, blah.

?But if we took the time to read Mohammad Sidique Khan?s will [the video confession broadcast after the attacks], we will see the answer for our problems.?

Khan, whose bomb killed six people on a Tube at Edgware Road, is held up as an example by Brooks because he didn?t fear death. ?We?re talking about people who want to die the way you like to live,? he said.

Nature of Advisory/Report:The London bombings a year ago brought to light several fundamental counterterrorism related issues affecting the United States and Europe. On the eve of the anniversary, and based on the release of a terrorist anniversary video today, the Terrorism Research Center offers three terrorism-related observations for a post-?7/7? world.

The release of an anniversary video underscores that the July 7, 2005 London subway bombings (Terrorist Incident) remain highly significant in the minds of many Islamic terrorists and further outlines a continuing strategy of global violence. In this video, bomber Shahzad Tanwir reveals the specific terms of a ?deal? into which he believes the United Kingdom, and other western countries, have unwillingly fallen whereby terrorists articulate complaints over their foreign policies with violence in the home territory. ?What you have witnessed is only the beginning of a series of attacks which will continue in number and increase in intensity until you withdraw your troops from Afghanistan and Iraq and stop your financial and military support for America and Israel,? Tanwir explains.

Accordingly, a lesson of particular importance learned by radical Islamic militants regarding the evolution of Jihadist strategy from both the London attack and the Madrid commuter train bombing a year earlier in 2004 (Terrorist Incident) is that terrorist violence could and perhaps should be designed to achieve political results rather than vengeance. Terrorist strikes may also function, as al-Qaeda (Group Profile) strategist Abdulaziz al-Muqrin would say, as ?a way to direct messages?a form of diplomacy that writes in blood and uses torn limbs as letters?? The contemporary strategy of Jihadist terrorism, like other terrorist movements before it, is evolving towards an advanced understanding of the use of violence for carefully calibrated political ends.

The London bombings and one-year anniversary video release targeting the British public and carefully articulating the rationale behind the attacks as well as the terms of any future peace clearly illustrate this principle not only to the western ?enemy? but also to the next generation of al-Qaeda terrorists.

Both the Madrid and London bombings are clear illustrations of Islamist Abu Bakr al-Najy as the ?Pay-the-Price? principle for the international community of radicals. Al-Najy?s Pay-the-Price theory dictates that nations that commit offenses against the Islamic world must be retaliated upon so that they understand clearly that they are ?paying the price? for their own policies. He writes:

Any offending action by any group of any kind requires a reaction to make the enemy pay the price of his crimes and to reconsider one thousand times over before undertaking to attack us?

This is not necessarily a new idea; Osama bin Laden has spoken of the need ?to bring the battle into the hearths of their homes,? which he did successfully with the 9/11 attacks (Terrorist Incident). However, those attacks spawned more unpopular US actions in the Middle East, whereby London and Madrid strikes demonstrate that terrorist violence can be used effectively to send a message to the European public. While the London bombings have not yet yielded the pullout of British troops from Iraq (Country Profile), a general dissatisfaction prevalent among much of the British public with the war has been commented upon in Jihadist discourse.

The idea that western countries can be made to ?pay-the-price? with terrorist violence in their homelands for their unpopular actions and policies vis-?-vis the Islamic world has become an entrenched part of modern Jihadist strategy. At least one Iraqi insurgent group has threatened to attack the US homeland. The Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaeda-affiliated propaganda distribution organization, threatened Italy (Country Profile) with a terrorist attack if it did not extract its troops from Iraq, and the al-Qaeda-linked GSPC in Algeria has threatened to carry out attacks in France (Country Profile) due to French support for the Bouteflicka government in Algeria.

Videos, statements, and publications aimed at enemy populaces are considered of utmost importance to communicate the terms and logic behind threats and acts of terrorist violence. Al-Najy writes, ?It is also necessary to remind the enemy of this by issuing statements, which justify any Pay-the-Price operation.? The video of the will of London bomber Mohammed Siddiq Khan provides a telling example of this; Khan communicates to his countrymen?in British-accented English?exactly why they were being attacked. ?Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people and your support of them makes you directly responsible?? he explains as the justification to the attack.

7/7 and European Security

Apart from the recent video and its insights into Islamic terrorists' strategy, and tactics, while the vast majority of Muslims value their adopted countries, many face lingering inequalities and challenges. A portion of the Muslim minority enclaves in Europe continue to turn to a more fundamental strain of Islam, adhering to radical views and abiding by the most austere adaptations of Islam. These clusters are spread over most of Europe and are accruing a dangerous set of followers. Contributing factors to their ability to grow and develop are radical Imams who recruit and mobilize thousands of followers. Their radical messages have been protected by the West's own primary values of freedom of speech, and it is not until recently that amendments have been made to national laws to enable law enforcement to obstruct their firebrand rhetoric. Still, there are many militant groups that manage to circumvent regulations, and their messages still reach many, especially Muslim youth who are an easy target for radicalization.

Parallel to, and feeding into, al-Qaeda?s global evolution and expansion are sustained tensions within European society between Muslim and immigrant communities?including second and third generation descendants of Muslim immigrants?and the indigenous European societies in which they live. This tension is driven by perceptions of social inequality, alienation, and grievances toward the nation?s foreign and domestic policies vis-?-vis the global Muslim community. Second and third generations of Muslims compose a diverse and dispersed group, some of whom struggle with substandard living conditions in troubled, poor suburbs of major European cities (WAR Report). These groupings have become the prime focus of anti-terrorism law enforcement officials who have identified them as malleable and sometimes sympathetic to violence. Some Muslim youth seek mentorship, camaraderie, and a place to belong. The latter is critically important, as some of these youth feel displaced, and out of touch with both their countries of ancestral origin or their country of current nationality (Intel Report). While other issues?alienation, exclusion, and religious intolerance?are key components to integrating any religion or ethnicity (WAR Report), Maher Othman of the al-Hayat newspaper, focuses on humiliation as a primary radicalizing factor. These perceived injustices have the potential to encourage radicalization and rallying of politically and socially-motivated violence. In particular, this environment could easily provide the soil in which Islamist militancy and terrorism take root throughout Europe. These societal and political grievances seem to provide many of the underlying motivations for recent political violence and terrorism in Europe and the emergence of jihadist ?vanguard outpost? cells: from the Madrid and London subway bombings, to the assassinations and death threats from Islamist terrorists against public figures and politicians (Terrorist Incident) in the Netherlands (Country Profile), to the recent riots among the young descendents of some immigrants in France (WAR Report).

Further, Islamist militant and terrorist groups seek to exploit some members of the Muslim immigrant community who feel unrest or grievance to recruit and seek operational support for jihadist activities. Particularly concerning for counter-terrorism officials is the potential connections by members of these communities to Iraq and Afghanistan (Country Profile) to provide either training and experience for European-based militants to refine terrorist tradecraft or the deployment of veterans from these fronts to establish, participate in, or otherwise offer their battlefield expertise to European cells.

The United States and Europe

Finally, radicalized-autonomous Islamic terrorist cells of second and third generation immigrants who have European citizenship pose a continuing risk to European countries. They are difficult to detect by local authorities. Further, procedures designed to encourage international travel within Europe unintentionally facilitate terrorist travel as well. Schengen visas are temporary visitor visas issued to citizens of foreign countries who are required to obtain a visa before entering Europe. The issuance of the Schengen visa permits the holder to enter all member countries with the minimal restrictions. The United Kingdom (Country Profile) is not a party to the treaty; therefore, its citizens are considered foreign nationals to the European Union and must obtain a Schengen visa to enter mainland Europe.

Radicalized European terrorists of foreign descent could potentially threaten the United States (Country Profile). Passport holders from the United Kingdom can enter the United States as tourists via the visa waver program (VWP). This allows legal entry to the US for 90 days, and if a person is not in various security databases, he could go undetected. The VWP program is not limited to UK citizens; most European nations have favorable visa arrangements with the US.

In conclusion, Europe?s Muslim minorities, the corrosive influence of radical ideology, streamlined travel documents, and rapid transit across borders and oceans will continue to challenge both European and US counterterrorism forces and counterterrorism policy for the foreseeable future

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For those who fight for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know